


A night of magic

by Servena



Category: Charlie Bone Series | Children of the Red King - Jenny Nimmo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Battle Preparations, Bloor's Academy, Gen, Pre-Battle, Supernatural Abilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-29 10:30:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8485882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Servena/pseuds/Servena
Summary: “So. Never thought I’d defend this old, gloomy thing.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sommerchallenge 2016.

Charlie rolled up the paper with the plan and put it away. It was no use to go over it again, what went wrong now couldn’t be fixed in time anyway. It would just drive him crazy.

He turned to look at the portrait of the red king hanging on the wall. He thought about the prophecy, about how ten children walking hand in hand around the red king’s tree had tried his tears. He wondered what might happen when the red king’s children fought united for the first time in hundreds of years.

Fidelio poked his head through the door. “The gate is secure. The Branko twins are holding it. – Never thought I’d say that. They still look bored, can you imagine?” He joined the others at the table.

“Everybody else at their positions?” Charlie asked.

Fidelio nodded. “Looks like it. Should start any moment.”

Silence fell in the king’s room, everybody was lost in their own thoughts. The old dog Blessed curled himself up at the end of the table and whined softly.

“So”, Fidelio said, “Never thought I’d defend this old, gloomy thing”, and waved his hand to encompass the entire school.

Charlie grinned a bit. “Me neither.”

“Maybe he’s not coming”, Olivia said hopefully. She was wearing a green parka and her hair was her natural brown colour. She looked unusually normal.

“He’s coming”, Gabriel said. When he felt all eyes settle on him, he lowered his gaze and mumbled, “I can feel it.”

“Trust the clairvoyant”, Fidelio sighed.

A bolt of lightning split the dark sky and cast blinding light through the windows. Everybody jumped. The thunder that followed sounded like Thor himself was swinging his hammer in the clouds.

“Nice work, Tancred”, Charlie mumbled.

Rain was starting to fall, a strong wind was howling around the walls and with it the sound of drums begun to beat, quietly at first, but growing stronger.

Olivia peaked through the window. “Lysander is calling his warriors, I can see them.” She yelped and stumbled back when a flock of ravens suddenly flew past the window.

“Those are Billy’s, they’re watching for intruders“, Charlie said.

The ravens were flying up the walls until they were circling the roofs, ready to report any unusual occurrence to the small white-haired boy that had instructed them.

Down in the courtyard, two figures with green capes were standing, holding hands. Tancred’s blond hair was crackling with electricity, cape billowing in the wind that grew stronger by the second as the flashes illuminated their surroundings. They grinned at each other.

The swelling beat of drums mixed with the rolling thunder. They watched the first warriors appear around them, first no more than shapes, but soon dark-skinned men with spears in their hands. At Lysander’s orders, they spread out around the walls of the school.

Eerie green lights began to move over the walls of the academy. The river, usually just a little stream, became a current, swelling until it spilled over the river bank. The strong smell of salt and fish filled the air.

“Don’t drown anyone!” Tancred called over to a boy in a blue cape who was standing a distance apart. Dagbert Endless just nodded.

In a doorway, a girl with a green cape was watching the courtyard. “Let’s go”, she said. She stepped out into the storm, growing feathers and changing shape until she swung herself up into the turbulent air, no longer a girl but a bird. A beast with gleaming yellow eyes slunk out of the shadows and followed her.

“Looks like everything’s going according to plan”, Fidelio reported.

In that moment, cries sounded down the corridor. “He’s here, he’s here!” Billy Raven burst through the door. “He’s here”, he repeated, gasping for breath.

Charlie stood up and looked around at the others. “Let’s do this.”

They walked out of the king’s room.


End file.
